Publius was not the kind of person who let the matter of his daughter's birthmark go so easily after he had discovered it. He tried to scrub it off the child in the very night of her birth after everyone else had gone to bed. But the offending mark didn't go away that night. Nor did it go away when he tried it again on the next morning with water he had heated for that purpose. He considered burning it off, but he was hesitant about this because he knew that Annia would never forgive him.

Then Annia discovered the birthmark herself when the baby was three days old and she was nursing it in her bed. Although nursing your own children wasn't customary among the Roman elite, he had accepted her decision not to hire a wet-nurse because this baby was probably the last she would ever have. Moreover, it made him feel incredibly proud to see her take care of "the little one," as they had come to refer to the baby. As a matter of fact, he was watching her when she saw the odd birthmark for the first time. As soon as she held up her daughter's right hand and examined it quietly, he knew she was worried, too.

He couldn't help himself at this point and asked, "Do you think it's a bad omen?"

"What do you mean?" she asked and acted as if she didn't know what he was talking about.

"The odd thing on her wrist."

Annia was scared, but she couldn't speak freely in his presence. He didn't know that she had only gotten pregnant because she had consulted a witch and that his daughter had been born after she had endured months of lotions which the witch had rubbed on her pregnant stomach. More than once, the witch had also addressed the unborn child in a language she didn't understand, and it had sounded as if she had placed either a spell or a curse on the baby. So the birthmark was most likely a reminder of that. Therefore, the one person she should talk to about her daughter's birthmark was the witch, not her husband. But first off, she needed to placate her husband, which is why she tried to laugh it off. "You Roman men are all so superstitious! You let birds determine the future of Rome! And now you tell me that you think our daughter's birthmark is a bad omen?"

*****

As soon as Publius left the house to go to the Curia, Annia left the house and took the baby with her.

The witch was surprised to see Annia enter her shop a mere four days after her child's birth. "I didn't expect you up quite so soon! You had quite a nasty birth, you know."

But Annia was more furious than she had ever been and had no time for pleasantries. "What have you done to my child?"

"I saved her life - and yours, as a matter of fact. If it hadn't been for me, the two of you would have died on that birthing stool. You should thank me!"

"And how do you explain the birthmark on her wrist? What does the X mean?" Annia said and exposed her child's wrist. The baby was so surprised by this that she started to cry.

Hecate looked at the baby's wrist and sighed because she hadn't expected the mark to appear in such an obvious place. It usually appeared on the baby's hip or on the back and thus in places where the parents didn't detect it at first.

"I demand to know if we should be worried!" Annia exclaimed. "Have you ever seen anything like this before?"

The witch nodded. This case was messed up and the very thing Master Decimus had always warned her about. The best strategy was to placate the mother and then to leave town as fast as possible before the baby's father found out about her role in this and had her arrested. "Yes, I have seen marks like this and can assure you that they don't have a special meaning... Or better, let's say they don't mean a lot!"

Annia sensed that there was something the witch wasn't tell her, which is why she refused to calm down. "Well, if you say, 'they don't mean a lot,' you may as well tell me all you know about them! Will my child be able to lead a normal life for example?"

"Well, you'll find out about that as your child gets older," Hecate said mysteriously. "It varies from case to case. All I can tell you is that you shouldn't worry about your child's health. She will be stronger than many other children, and she won't die anytime soon. Now if you'd excuse me, I need to go to the market!"

And just like that, the witch walked out of her shop, assuming correctly that Annia wouldn't follow her and call her out in the street.

*****

Publius Fulvius Nepos had heard many strange stories in his time as a lawyer and senator. But his wife's confession topped them all. He couldn't believe that she had been so desperate to give him a child that she had consulted an actual witch.

"I understand if you want to break up with me because I'm responsible for this. It was never my intention to cause any harm..." Annia sobbed.

"But you did!" Publius interrupted her. He had finally arrived at a point in his life when everything was perfect (apart from his daughter's strange birthmark and the fact that his son was still a loser in his opinion), and it was just so cruel to have that happiness taken away from you again, especially if it happened this quickly.

"Publius, please!" Annia pleaded.

"I want you to be gone. And don't forget to take the witch's child with you!" he said with a fierce determination he didn't really feel. He was disappointed, but he knew he couldn't be soft with her. Who knew what she would do the next time she wanted something badly?